Natural Homemade All Purpose Cleaner (Plus free printable label)

What a wonderful weekend this was! My boyfriend’s mom, who has been traveling the world for three months, finally came home. So we got to spend Easter together and it was a really lovely day. I learned that I am really terrible at Easter egg hunts. But it was fun to spend together and we had a great time.

So- on to this week’s post! I set out to make a good all purpose cleaner. For a while now I have been using a store-bought all purpose cleaner that professes to be green and natural, but I still do not feel great about the ingredients. So it’s time to replace it!

It’s amazing how these brands charge you more for green cleaning products in stores, but when you make them at home they are usually cheaper than even the brand name products! One batch of this cleaner costs 21 cents (may vary slightly for you depending on how much your water costs- I grossly overestimated the cost of the water so it’s actually closer to 16 cents). That’s better than even the dollar store cleaner!

Borax: natural disinfectant, natural deodorizer, contributes to the strength of other basic cleaners or buffers the pH of alkaline cleaners, naturally occurring mineral that is sustainably mined (keep away from children and pets and don’t ingest)

Castile Soap: great all purpose cleaner, cuts grease, made with all natural vegetable oils and is biodegradable

Your favorite essential oil (optional): for scent, and depending on the oil can also add other properties like antibacterial (I like lemon for my cleaning products)

Water

I cleaned my stove with the cleaner- here is what it looked like before and after using this cleaner

Here is the full recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups hot water

2 tsp borax

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp liquid castile soap

5-10 drops essential oil (optional)

Directions:

Pour all ingredients into a spray bottle

Shake well and spray the area you want to clean

Scrub with a rag or microfiber cloth- and admire your handiwork!

Here is what my kitchen counter looked like before and after cleaning

I went to work with this cleaner in my kitchen and I am pretty happy with the results! It was able to loosen and clean even the crusty stuff on the counter without much work on my part. And it left my stovetop and counters looking nice and shiny!

I also put it to work in the bathroom- and it worked great in there too! All the ingredients in this cleaner are so versatile it is truly an all purpose cleaner- it can be used on counters, appliances, floors, plumbing fixtures, or whatever you can put your mind to.

Plus, it has the added benefit of not being harmful to your health or the environment. Could you ask for more from your all purpose cleaner? Well, I guess you could ask it to do the work itself, but I haven’t quite figured that one out yet.

I’ll have to try this cleaning solution! I go through so many cleaning supplies this would really be a money saver! Congrats on getting featured at Living Well Spending Less! Isn’t it so fun getting featured?! Thanks for sharing this!

Can this be used on glass without leaving streaks? I’m looking for a multi surface cleaner I can use on pretty much everything. I love vinegar/water but I cannot use that on my granite. I have granite in my kitchen and bathrooms. I tried castile soap and water but it leaves terrible streaks.

Hi! I love all your recipes and information. Piggy backing on what someone else stated, can this all purpose cleaning be used on granite? There is no vinegar and I wanted a natural cleaner for my counter. Thank you!

I would err on the side of caution and say it might not work on granite. The borax is acidic and acid is not great for granite. Instead, you could replace the borax with a few tablespoons of rubbing alcohol, which should make it safe for granite, or just leave the borax out all together without replacing it. I don’t have any granite in my home and I don’t have personal experience with it, so I would definitely test it on a small area before cleaning the whole counter to be safe.

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